


Upgrade

by ashinan



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-27
Updated: 2012-02-27
Packaged: 2017-10-31 20:15:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/347951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashinan/pseuds/ashinan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve stays the entire time Dummy is being upgraded, distracting the robot with his fingers and random tools he can reach when Dummy isn’t clinging to his shirt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Upgrade

**Author's Note:**

> This was written as a gift for a fellow tumblr user!

Steve knocks on the glass separating him from Tony’s workshop. Tony doesn’t hear him, doesn’t even look up, blowtorch a bright glow in his hands and mixing with the light from the arc reactor. Steve watches for a few minutes and keys in his code. The door opens with a click, and the sound of music abruptly cuts off. Tony doesn’t look up, his entire self focused on the bot in front of him. Steve shakes his head, edges his way inside, and skirts around machinery and Tony’s blueprints and the mishmash of electronics scattering various parts of the shop. Holograms hang suspended in the air and Steve carefully dodges around those too, until he’s standing right beside Tony.

“Tony?” Steve calls, light. He knows how easy it is to startle the man in the midst of his workshop.

Waving the blowtorch away, Tony blinks and flicks it off. The workshop is quiet, then, except for the groan of machines and the whir of Jarvis. Tony puts the blowtorch on the table beside him, grabs his goggles and pushes them high on his forehead.

“Hey, Cap, what can I do for you?”

Steve almost misses the question, peering at the robot Tony is working on. He realizes. “Wait, hey, isn’t that Dummy?”

Turning back, Tony taps at the robots head and Dummy whirs to life, turning to peer at them both. Or, at least, that’s what Steve assumes it does. It’s always difficult to tell if Dummy is looking up at him or just being, well, Dummy.

“Yeah, wanted to give him a few upgrades. I usually try to get him all sorted out at the beginning of the year, but I was a little busy so I had to make a few compensations. He has a new format of the AI system and easier flexibility in the joints and fingers. I’ve also given him a GPS tracker and formatting chip so he can directly communicate with Jarvis.” Tony pats Dummy fondly, and the robot clicks at him. Tony smiles. “It’s not much, but I didn’t want to destroy his personality by rewriting the code. So, he’s still the same Dummy.”

Steve reaches out and Dummy grasps at his hand with his robotic fingers, making an enthusiastic whirring click, and Tony blinks. “Well, that’s new. It took him three months before he was okay going near Pepper. He tends to stick close.”

Dummy shakes his hand up and down and then releases him. It turns to Tony, reaching out to pinch at the goggles on Tony’s forehead and dragging them down. Tony bats the fingers away, readjusting the goggles. “Yes, yes, let me finish with Steve and then we’ll finish up with you, you big baby.”

Clicking, Dummy turns to peer at the floor and Steve asks, “When did you make it?”

There’s a flicker of something over Tony’s face, something wary and unsure, but he masks it quickly. He starts tinkering with Dummy again. “He was my university project. Completed him fully the day my parents died.”

And Steve doesn’t know what to say to that, and sorry seems so contrite, considering Tony’s relationship with his father. He reaches out again and taps at Dummy’s head, catching the robots attention. Dummy beeps at him, turns to look back at Tony, and then grabs the side of Steve’s shirt very carefully.

Tony rolls his eyes. “He’s asking if you like him.”

Blinking, Steve puts a hand on Dummy’s head. “Yes? It seems nice.”

“He,” Tony corrects absently. Steve flushes.

“Sorry. He seems nice.”

Dummy chirps, tugging again on Steve’s shirt, and continues to hold on while Tony fiddles around inside. There’s a large grinding noise, and Dummy’s mechanical fingers tighten. “Hey, watch it.”

Tony looks up in surprise and Dummy let’s up on Steve’s shirt, twisting his head to the side in what Steve assumes is thanks. Tony shakes his head. “He’s fine, Steve. He just hates upgrades.”

“Well, he didn’t like whatever you did, so be careful. You’ve had him this long, right?” Steve says. Dummy is gathering up more of his shirt, making happy beeping noises.

“I – yes. I guess I have,” Tony says, voice distant. He peers at Steve through his goggles, sighs, and goes back to carefully adjusting Dummy. “Hold still, you whiner.”

Steve stays the entire time Dummy is being upgraded, distracting the robot with his fingers and random tools he can reach when Dummy isn’t clinging to his shirt. Tony tsks at them both, but when he finishes, the smile he shoots Steve is full of gratitude. Dummy takes off on his little wheels, arching up to touch the walls and shift around the photographs. Tony rubs oil off his hands and looks off to the side.

“Thanks. I mean – well, he’s difficult to upgrade when I can get him into place because of how skittish he is. You – he seemed to enjoy the distraction,” Tony says all in a rush. Steve smiles, brushing a hand over Tony’s. Oil smears his fingers and Tony flushes, keeping contact until Dummy comes flying back at them, chirping and beeping and holding Tony’s favourite wrench. Tony grins, pats Dummy on the head, and takes it from him.

“Good boy.”


End file.
